Welcome to the third and final trailer post of the week.
You can find the first part here and second part here.
I published two reviews this week, Cloud and The Serpent’s Path, both Kiyoshi Kurosawa films and both released in 2024. He released a third film, too, Chime, but I think I’ll post that review in February, a year to the day I first wrote about it in the Berlinale preview.
What are the rest of this week’s releases?
Koko ni iru, ikiteiru. Kie yuku kaiso no mori ni michibikareta
ここにいる、生きている。 消えゆく海藻の森に導かれて 「Koko ni iru, ikiteiru. Kie yuku kaiso no mori ni michibikareta」
Release Date: January 10th, 2024
Duration: 103 mins.
Director: Tomomi Hasegawa
Writer: N/A
Starring: N/A
Website Twitter: @umimori_cinema
Synopsis: This is a documentary about seaweed directed by Tomomi Hasegawa. Specifically, it is the disappearance of seaweed from beaches and coasts around Japan. She first became aware when she moved from Tokyo to a seaside town and heard about “isoyaki,” the disappearance of seaweed forests due to factors like climate change. In this film, she learns about this phenomena and what can be done to save seaweed forests. You can read more about this issue here.
Skateboard and Surf
スケとボドとサーフ 「Suketobodo to sa-fu」
Release Date: January 10th, 2024
Duration: N/A
Director: Daiki Nakayama
Writer: Toto (Screenplay),
Starring: Aran Abe, Riku Ichikawa, Ryosuke Miyake, Takashi Kasahara,
This ensemble drama is the third instalment of a series of short films by the screenwriter Toto and it was directed by Daiki Nakayama, director of episodes of Solitary Gourmet.
Synopsis: A Chinese restaurant in a corner of Shibuya. A young man working as a new employee is well-liked by the two senior waitstaff members for his diligent attitude. When a cameraman appears on the scene, the young man’s daily life becomes blended with a sense of discomfort, and a gap begins to appear. Eventually, the boundary between the world he sees in the mirror and reality becomes blurred.
“Space Battleship Yamato” 50th Anniversary Special Selection Screening Program 3
「宇宙戦艦ヤマト」放送50周年記念セレクション上映 プログラム3 「Uchuu Senkan Yamato hoso 50 shunenkinen serekushon koei puroguramu 3」
Release Date: January 10th, 2025
Duration: N/A
Director: Leiji Matsumoto
Writer: Eiichi Yamamoto, Keisuke Fujikawa, Maru Tamura (Screenplays), Leiji Matsumoto, Yoshinobu Nishizaki (Original Creator),
Starring: Kei Tomiyama (Susumu Kodai), Yoko Asagami (Yuki Mori), Goro Naya (Juzo Okita),
Animation Production: Academy Productions, Tohokushinsha Film Corporation
Synopsis: The first episode of the TV anime Space Battleship Yamato was broadcast in Japan in 1974. It became a phenomena that inspired many creatives working to this day. To mark its 50th anniversary, selected episodes from the first TV series will be screened in an event planned and produced by Hideaki Anno who selected three sets of three episodes he took from the original 26-episode run. Crunchyroll had the screening schedule as:
December 27, 2024 – January 2, 2025
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 7
January 3 – 9 , 2025
Episode 16
Episode 18
Episode 22
January 10 – 16, 2025
Episode 23
Episode 24
Episode 26
Each program will be screened in HD remastered versions for a limited period of one week. This is the second set of screenings.
繕い合う・こと 「Tsukuroi ao koto」
Release Date: January 11th, 2024
Duration: 89 mins.
Director: Kazuki Nagaya
Writer: Kazuki Nagaya (Screenplay),
Starring: Kazuki Nagaya, Hisao Kurozumi, Go Kikuchi, Yuki Yamamoto, Miyuki Fukuda,
Website Twitter: @mending_cracks
This film was at Skip City 2023 and was directed by Kazuki Nagaya, an actor who appeared in the film Mio on the Shore and One Cut of the Dead. Indeed, the director of the latter film produced Nagaya’s debut! Here, Nagaya writes, directs, stars in and edits a drama is based on the theme of kintsugi, a technique used to restore cracked porcelain.
Synopsis: Mamoru has chosen to follow in his late father’s footsteps as a kintsugi (metal-joining) craftsman, but despite having a path in life, he feels negative. His younger brother Miki, on the other hand, has returned home for the year-end tradition of cleaning the family house but he has no goals of his own and so he looks at his older brother with envy. When Miki notices that his father’s belongings are missing, he questions Mamoru, and the brothers confront each other about their feelings.